Activision

This One Goes Out to All the Ladies

Reader Bondage_Zombie has spent over a decade in video game drag. He’d like this option in more games, but not just for his sake. He thinks that there aren’t enough female gamers out there and it could be the developers’ faults. So what can devs do to bring in the elusive audience? It seems like…

By Sam Winstrom Published June 22, 2011

What’s in the New Call of Duty: Black Ops Limited Edition Re-release?

The Call of Duty: Black Ops Limited Edition hits Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 next week at North American retailers, packing in one game and one token for “First Strike” downloadable content that originally hit in February. Cost? $59.99 USD.

By Michael McWhertor Published June 21, 2011

Happy (Early) Father’s Day From Prototype 2

Who’s your daddy… or what’s your daddy? Activision sent out these digital Father’s Day cards just in time for the big event this Sunday. Are you prepped for the weekend. I know as a father I expect to be carried around and fanned at all times.

By Brian Crecente Published June 17, 2011

A Look at Call of Duty: Black Ops Annihilation in Action

Here’s our first look at the next map pack coming to Call of Duty: Black Ops. In the video we get a quick walk-through of Annihilation’s four maps: Hangar 18, Drive-In, Silo and Hazard. Hanger 18 takes place in Area 51 and is packed with conspiracy-theory Easter Eggs. There’s a nice mix of close quarter…

By Brian Crecente Published June 16, 2011

What the Fuck is Bobby Kotick Doing in This Brad Pitt Movie?

This is a trailer for an upcoming Brad Pitt movie called Moneyball. It’s about baseball. And at 0:58, you can see that the owner of the Oakland A’s baseball team is being played by none other than Activision boss Bobby Kotick. Remember, this is a movie about baseball. Not video games. And while it could…

By Luke Plunkett Published June 16, 2011

Is the Third Black Ops Map Pack Coming at the End of June?

A tipster sends along that picture of that GameStop poster, advertising Call of Duty: Black Ops‘ third map pack, titled “Annihilation.” June 28 appears to be the release date. The maps are Hangar, Hazard, Silo, Drive-In and another Zombie map. We’ve been hearing that GameStop is taking preorders for the pack. I called mine here…

By Owen Good Published June 15, 2011

The Beauty of E3 2011

E3 2011 is over. Kotaku already showed 3,444 blinks from Kotaku‘s E3 2011 photographer, Isaac Viel. Here is a longer look (but with fewer photos) at E3 2011. This isn’t a recap of hardware you’ve already seen, but rather, a window in to what it’s like to actually be there—minus the exhaustion and fatigue. These…

By Brian Ashcraft Published June 14, 2011

Modern Warfare 3 Shoots the Lights Out on Jimmy Fallon

As promised, Late Night host Jimmy Fallon has kicked off his video game week with footage of Modern Warfare 3 Sadly, at least for the first part of the clip, there’s not much to see. Much of the singleplayer footage has been seen before, and the audio has been totally washed out by Activision and…

By Luke Plunkett Published June 14, 2011

Time Magazine’s First Official Game Tie-In is for…Modern Warfare 3

Time is one of the most storied magazines the world has ever seen, and while its relevance may have dipped somewhat during the internet era, it’s still seen as a respectable publication. So its first ever video game tie-in is a bit of a disappointment. As a marketing stunt for the upcoming Modern Warfare 3,…

By Luke Plunkett Published June 14, 2011

The Big Games, Big Gadgets, Big Surprises of E3

The promise of uncompromising gaming on the go, a sexy new console from the makers of the Wii and a robust line-up of must-have, must-play games topped this year’s celebration of all things gaming in Los Angeles last week. This year’s E3 kicked off early last week with a look at what the makers of…

By Brian Crecente Published June 13, 2011

Battlefield 3 Reaches Out to 4chan With…Dinosaurs

Why did Modern Warfare 2 on PC suck? Because it didn’t have dinosaurs in it, apparently Fast forward a few years later and rival publisher Electronic Arts figured the dinosaur-loving, PC game-playing demographic was a demographic it could actually go after, inserting a dinosaur prominently in the most mind-blowing clip of E3 2011 then tweeting…

By Luke Plunkett Published June 13, 2011

Here, Thirteen Minutes of Modern Warfare 3 Gameplay Footage

Mercifully after the week we’ve had, this extensive gameplay demonstration of Modern Warfare doesn’t need the chit-chat of announcers to kick things off. It’s just straight into the gunplay. Say what you will about the dilapidated state of the series’ story or the impactful departure of some of its key men. Infinity Ward can still…

By Luke Plunkett Published June 10, 2011

Activision’s Bobby Kotick Wants to Buy…MySpace

According to “three people familiar with the matter”, Reuters is reporting that a group of investors including none other than Activision boss Bobby “What, Me Worry?” Kotick is in talks to buy dying social networking site MySpace. While the rumoured purchase would be as a private buyer, and not as an Activision acquisition, it’d still…

By Luke Plunkett Published June 9, 2011

Activision Boss Refused Sneak Peek of Competitor’s Battlefield 3

According to CVG, Activision CEO wandered by the E3 booth of Battlefield 3, the regicidal threat to his company’s own Call of Duty franchise, for a friendly look at the competition. He was denied. However, Activision says this didn’t happen.

By Joel Johnson Published June 9, 2011

Spider-Man: Edge of Time‘s Greatest Foe Is the Dreaded Annualization

Spider-Man: Edge of Time is Activision’s attempt to turn the Spider-Man license into an annualized franchise. This is not a good thing, and it shows. While there are clear attempts to differentiate the two games, it’s impossible to ignore how many elements of the game are identical. When you break it down, Edge of Time…

By Mike Epstein Published June 8, 2011

X-Men Destiny Makes You Pretend to be The X-Men Without Actually Playing as Them

X-Men: Destiny, Activision’s newest attempt to channel the franchise into beat-em up form, really wants indulge your fantasy of becoming a part of the expansive lore of the comic series. Rather than choosing their favorite heroes and villains from the series, players choose one of three new mutants whose powers you can cultivate and strengthen…

By Mike Epstein Published June 8, 2011

Hands On With Modern Warfare 3’s Version of Horde Mode

Two player cooperative gameplay pops in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s Survival Mode, shown to press at the E3 Expo today. In the new mode, one of several coop modes coming to Activision’s fall shooter, players have to survive increasingly difficult waves of enemies. Infinity Ward’s Mark Rubin joined me for my session of…

By Brian Crecente Published June 7, 2011